Vehicle Related Cases

Geneva County, AL

William Jordan

Convicted 1934

William Jordan was convicted of second-degree murder and
sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment. He ran over a person he knew in
his car at night. There had been a fire in the woods nearby and Jordan
said he could not see well enough to tell whether a person’s body was lying
in the road. He spent the night at the deceased's home apparently
unaware of his death. When Jordan found out the next day about the
death of the deceased, he telephoned the deceased's employer and went with
him to the scene. He was wholly cooperative with the sheriff and told
him about running over what he thought was a pole or chunk in the road.

Jordan's relations with the deceased were friendly and
intimate. There was no motive given for any hostile act towards the
deceased. There was no evidence of strong drink affecting any of the
participants in that night’s occurrence. The deceased had left
footprints in the burned woods and no other footprints were found. He
had been shot and it could not be determined whether he was dead before or
after Jordan ran over his body. After Jordan's conviction another
person confessed to the crime. The state supreme court vacated
Jordan's conviction for insufficient evidence; charges against him were
subsequently dropped. (Jordan
v. State) (MOJ)
[12/10]

San Diego County, CA

Jose Aguado Cervantes

Oct 22, 1999

(Federal Case) Jose Aguado Cervantes, a Mexican national and
Tijuana resident, spent more than three months in a U.S. jail after border
agents stopped him on his entry into the U.S. and found 119 pounds of
marijuana hidden in the bumper of his car. Cervantes, 67, had bought the
car three months earlier at a U.S. auction. The car had been seized four
months prior to the auction in connection with its use in smuggling illegal
immigrants. “I put 100 percent of my trust in the American government,” he
said in Spanish. “I never imagined they would sell me a car loaded with
drugs.” Cervantes subsequently filed a civil suit against the U.S. based on
negligence, and the U.S. settled the suit for $275,000. (E&B)
(L.A.
Times) (Cervantes
v. USA) [2/09]

Hartford County, CT

Michael Cyr

Feb 28, 2005 (Manchester)

While intoxicated, Michael Cyr had remotely started his car
and sat in the driver's seat with the driver's side door open. He was
subsequently arrested for “driving while intoxicated,” although he never
drove the car, nor did he put keys in the ignition. After unsuccessfully
trying to dismiss the charge, Cyr made a conditional no contest plea to the
charge, which allowed him to challenge it later. He was sentenced three
years imprisonment with two of the years suspended, three years probation,
and a $2000 fine. In 2007, an appeals court reviewed the conviction. It
noted that the state had produced no evidence that Cyr had the car's
ignition keys on him or that Cyr's car was capable of motion without the
keys. It then reversed the conviction, citing insufficient evidence that
Cyr was operating a motor vehicle under the meaning of the Connecticut
“driving while intoxicated” statute. (State
v. Cyr) [1/08]

Hillsborough County, FL

Mitchell James

Nov 29, 1999

Mitchell Houston James was sentenced to life imprisonment for
three counts of DUI manslaughter. At 1:15 a.m. on Nov 29, 1999, James
was driving westbound on Fletcher Ave. in Tampa, FL. As he approaching
the intersection of Bruce B. Downs Blvd, he noticed a single signal fly
towards him and he slammed on his brakes. A car, with headlights off,
ran a red light, at least 20 to 30 seconds after it changed red, and James
collided with it in the intersection. The car was occupied by four
college students, high under the influence of narcotics. The driver,
Leanna D.,19 , had only been licensed for two months and was speeding
without wearing her prescribed lenses. The driver and another student,
Majid T., died instantly while a third, Jaclyn A., died in a hospital. Majid's aunt, Tami Sbar, was a Florida State Attorney. The fourth
student, David S., 20, survived and, according to the Tampa Tribune,
had told his mother, he was the only one wearing a seat belt. However,
a sheriff's report stated that all four occupants were wearing seat belts.

At the scene, James was questioned about the accident on
videotape and it was evident that he was sober, communicating and responding
to all questions while suffering from a crushed pelvis. At trial it
was claimed that tests revealed he had a .234 to .237 alcohol level in his
blood, which is nearly three times the legal limit under a .08 standard. James' alleged blood sample had been improperly stored and was destroyed by
the state 5 days after the accident, preventing it from being tested for his
DNA. Deputy Candace Fishel, the lead investigator, did a faulty
accident reconstruction. She held no degree in physics, and was not an
expert in the field of accident reconstruction. Fishel allowed both
vehicles to be destroyed long before James' trial. James says, “I am
not guilty of DUI manslaughter, because I was not drunk or impaired at the
time of the accident, nor was I at fault.” (IIPPI)

Newaygo County, MI

Larry Souter

Aug 25, 1979

Larry Pat Souter was convicted in 1992 of the 1979 murder of
19-year-old Kristy Ringler. One evening, Souter had met Ringler at a bar
and became friendly with her. When the bar closed at 2:20 a.m., the two
left with several others to continue the party at the home of Anna Mae
Carpenter, which is located off of M37 (State Route 37). While everyone
else was inside, Souter and Ringler went out into the front yard of the
house and became amorous. At some point Ringler decided to go home, walking
northbound along M37. Souter followed her for 20 to 25 feet, trying to
persuade her to come back and get a ride, but he soon abandoned his efforts
and returned to the party.Read More by Clicking Here

Panola County, MS

John Randall Alexander

July 15, 1987

“John Randall Alexander was wrongly convicted in 1989 of the
July 15, 1987 death of a man who was run over by a car as he was walking
along a two-lane highway in Panola County, Mississippi. Alexander was
convicted based on the testimony of three people, including a husband and
wife, that he had confessed. [He] was sentenced to life in prison. In June
1992 the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Alexander's conviction. Five
years after [his] trial the woman admitted she lied and perjured herself
because her abusive husband wanted her to testify against Alexander. She
provided Alexander with an Affidavit that he relied on to file a state writ
of habeas corpus. Based on the new evidence of the woman's recantation that
also cast doubt on her husband's testimony, Alexander's conviction was
overturned in June 1995 and he was granted a new trial. The prosecution did
not act until 15 years after his release, when in March 2010 the murder
charge was dropped and his indictment dismissed with prejudice, which means
it cannot be refiled.” –
FJDB

Saratoga County, NY

Daniel P. Boutin

Nov 26, 1985

“Daniel P. Boutin was convicted of two counts of criminally
negligent homicide in Saratoga County on February 5, 1987. While driving
his truck on the Adirondack Northway in Saratoga County, Boutin collided
with a police car that had stopped in the right hand roadway behind a
disabled tractor trailer. The police car’s lights were flashing, but
visibility was low due to fog and rain. Both the state trooper and the
driver of the disabled truck, who were seated inside the police vehicle,
were killed. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction, but the Court
of Appeals reversed, holding that the evidence does not show that defendant
was engaged in any criminally culpable risk-creating conduct.... Rather, it
establishes only that defendant inexplicably failed to see the vehicle until
he was so close that he could not prevent the collision.... [T]hat
unexplained failure, without more, does not constitute criminally negligent
homicide.” – Inevitable Error (Appeals)

Stark County, OH

Christopher Bennett

May 29, 2001

Christopher Bennett was charged with vehicular homicide after
the van he was in crashed and killed a fellow occupant, Ronald Young, 42. The crash occurred on Baywood Street in Paris Township. Neither Bennett nor
Young were wearing a seat belt before the crash. Bennett pleaded guilty to
the charge after a witness report and the state crash expert, Trooper Toby
Wagner, indicated that he was the driver. After Bennett's amnesia cleared
in prison, he realized that he was the passenger. Bennett requested that
the blood from the van be tested and such tests appear to exonerate him. The van had a driver's side airbag and Young's injuries were consistent with
hitting the airbag. Bennett's injuries were consistent with hitting the
windshield. Another witness has come forward who said Young was the
driver. Bennett's conviction was overturned in 2006, and he faces a
possible retrial. (Akron
Beacon Journal) [9/06]

King County, WA

Michael Lee Sipin

Mar 6, 2000

Michael Lee Sipin was an occupant of a BMW Z3 sports car that
crashed into a tree and threw both occupants from the car. Sipin suffered
brain damage while the other occupant, David Taylor, was killed. Sipin, who
had a blood alcohol level of .11, maintained that he was the passenger, not
the driver. The prosecution used a computer program named PC-Crash to
simulate the crash and it convinced jurors to convict Sipin of vehicular
homicide. Sipin's conviction was overturned on appeal in 2005. The appeals
judge faulted the state's PC-Crash expert witness for not accounting for
multiple impacts in the crash and the changing dimensions and angles inside
the vehicle. (Appeals) [7/05]

Manitoba, Canada

Cody Klyne

Sept 4, 2006

Cody Klyne was convicted of dangerous
driving and flight from police. His conviction was based on the eyewitness
testimony of two police officers who only momentarily saw the car's driver. In Aug. 2007, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled that the officers'
identification was too unreliable to support Klyne's conviction, and
overturned the conviction. (Winnipeg
Free Press) (R.
v. Klyne) [1/08]

Mexico

Rivera & Calderón

Jan 24, 2002 (Ensenada)

Francisco Rivera Agredano and his brother-in-law, Alfonso
Calderón León were convicted of drug trafficking after 37 pounds of
marijuana was found in the door of a Nissan Pathfinder SUV that Rivera was
driving. Calderón was a passenger. The two were stopped at a
checkpoint near Ensenada, which is more than 70 miles from the U.S. Border. Rivera, a Tijuana printer, had bought the car four months before for $2,600
at a U.S. government auction in San Ysidro, CA. It had previously been
seized when 59 pounds of marijuana was found inside its gasoline tank.

Rivera had crossed the U.S.-Mexican border five times without
incident after he bought the car. Under Mexican law the two men were
presumed guilty. They were convicted after a Mexican judge rejected
their claim that U.S. customs did not thoroughly search the car. The
two were sentenced to five years in prison. The U.S., not only ignored
their pleas for help, but fought to keep exonerating evidence from their
attorneys. After a year in prison, the convictions of the two were
vacated after Rivera's lawyer was able to convince a Mexicali appeals court
that the moldy marijuana found inside the Pathfinder was too old to be of
resale value.

Rivera was later awarded $551,000 in a suit against the U.S.
government, and may get an additional sum for costs incurred by his U.S.
lawyers. Calderón could not sue because because of a U.S. Supreme
Court precedent barring lawsuits against the federal government for
incidents arising outside the U.S. U.S. District Judge Emily Hewitt
ruled that she did not know how customs missed the contraband, but she
rejected the claim advanced by Rivera's lawyers that the Customs Service
does not thoroughly search vehicles because doing so could cause damage them
and decrease their resale value. In legal documents, U.S. attorneys
said the government did nothing wrong and that the onus is on the buyers to
make sure the cars are drug free. According to Teresa Trucchi,
attorney for Rivera and Calderón, “I don't think 'as is' to the normal
consumer means, 'If I buy it and it's stuffed full of drugs that I'm unaware
of and I get arrested, that's my problem.'” (SD
Union-Tribune) (CBS)
[10/08]

Australia (SA)

Michael Penney

Oct 30, 1995

Michael Penney was convicted of the attempted murder of his
wife. Penney allegedly set fire to the trunk of his wife's car right before
she drove away. (NetK)

Australia (WA)

John Button

Feb 10, 1963

John Button was convicted of manslaughter in 1963 for
allegedly driving his car into his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson, as she
walked by the side of the road. Button was exonerated in 2003 after new
evidence indicated serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke was Anderson's likely
killer. (IPWA) (01)
(02)